Jethro Tull at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado

40 total hours of driving to see the venue:  Jethro Tull at Red Rocks Amphitheater outside Denver.  It needed to live up to the legend and by all accounts succeeded and surpassed expectations.  

 The near capacity crowd of 9500+ tended towards middle age, all growing up with the music of Tull for nearly 50 years.  Masterful would best describe the show, a hybridization of rock and classical backed up with the Colorado Symphony.  At nearly 70 years old, Ian Anderson’s mastery of the flute has no equal.  His current band featured a phenomenal guitarist, Florian Opahle, who wailed on a 5 minute solo of Bach's Taccata and Fugue.

 I wanted Josh to see another icon of rock and he appreciated the raw talent but impatient with the 55 degree temperature and gusty winds. In 15 years he’ll realize what he saw tonight when the last of the great rockers are gone and all that is left is what dominates the airwaves today; automated, cookie-cutter performer’s compensated by auto-tuned, computer generated productions. 

The perfect closer - Locomotive Breath.